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Cell S
Returning Member

Home Office deduction error?

I'm at the Home office deduction section and when I get to the final page it says I'm not eligible due to  "The net profit for your  work was zero or less, which means you can't claim any home office deductions"

This can't be true because my net profit isn't zero.  Is the home office not attached to the income I entered? 

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2 Replies
rjs
Level 15
Level 15

Home Office deduction error?

You have to look at your Schedule C. Look at the actual tax form, not a screen in TurboTax. The TurboTax screen is using the term "net profit" differently from the way the IRS uses it on Schedule C. TurboTax is telling you that the amount on Schedule C line 29, which the IRS calls "tentative profit or (loss)," is zero or less. That prevents you from deducting home office expenses. Line 29 will be zero or less if the total expenses on line 28 are equal to or more than the gross income on line 7.


The amount of your home office would be on Schedule C line 30, but line 30 will be blank if line 29 is zero or less.


To see your Schedule C in TurboTax Online you have to print or save a PDF of your tax return. You have to pay the TurboTax fees in order to do that.

 

Home Office deduction error?

One of the Home Office questions asked you what percentage of your business income was earned from the Home Office.  If you said less than 100%, that can have a drastic impact on the income/profit limit for the Home Office (which would be different than your actual business profit).  You can see the amount of that Home Office limit on line 8 of Form 8829.

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